Exploring Roman Wood

Exploring Roman Wood

To date very few artefacts from our extensive Roman small-finds wood collection have been published or explored. While we have a reference work for the Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval periods there is no such work for the Roman period- this is a significant gap in our knowledge.

This project is, therefore, working towards creating an overview of what portable wooden artefacts were used, how they were made, how they changed over time and what they can tell us about daily life in Roman York. Some of the material may have been imported, giving us information about trading links with other parts of the empire. Currently, most of the comparable material comes from specifically military sites or specifically civilian sites. York combines the military fortress with the civilian Colonia and therefore this project is aiming to reveal how (if at all) the material differs between these locations.

The project is investigating objects from various excavations in York including Tanner Row and Wellington Row – sites originally dug in the 1980’s and outcomes include the first major study of Roman wooden small finds from York, a corpus of material as a resource for external researchers, and material for future exhibitions.

York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research Limited. Registered Office: 47 Aldwark, York YO1 7BX. A Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 1430801. A registered Charity in England & Wales (No. 509060) and Scotland (SCO42846)